Cambridge Future Tech raises $3m for tech-first portfolio boost
Cambridge Future Tech’s recently closed – “technically November 30” – funding round has raised more than $3million as the tech-first venture builder’s finely-crafted portfolio begins growing at pace.
Founded in 2020, Cambridge Future Tech (CFT) has worked with nine deep tech ventures across the UK including Cambridge-based Mimicrete, a leader in self-healing concrete technology; Mignon who are developing the next generation of ultra-efficient AI; and the transformative synthetic biology start-up, GitLife Biotech, spun out of Newcastle University.
The company was started by co-founders Owen Thompson, CEO; George Neville-Jones (also a co-founder and CFO of recently-launched GitLife Biotech); and Xavier Parkhouse-Parker, COO (who also chairs CFT portfolio company Mignon). In their sights are climate tech, deeptech and AI.
The team now has a proven track record in building companies and is joined by a network of more than 100 seasoned founders, technical specialists, and business leaders, who have helped create more than 50 highly-skilled jobs since CFT started.
Professor Alex Yakovlev, head of µSystems Research Group at Newcastle University and co-founder at Mignon, said: “As an academic founder, collaborating with the co-founders from CFT has been an enriching experience. Their invaluable support has been instrumental in commercialising our ultra-energy-efficient and explainable AI technology.”
CFT says its strategy “catalyses transformative technology, it is not just building companies, it is sculpting tomorrow’s reality; shaping a world where innovation meets necessity, resulting in profound societal advancement”.
Michael Beer, partner at Vest Coast Capital, a US-based CFT investor, said: “The Cambridge Future Tech team continues to deliver on its well-articulated plan for growth and value creation.
“We’re highly encouraged by the milestones achieved within the current portfolio and see a robust pipeline of future opportunities identified through CFT’s dynamic and unique approach.”
The Bradfield Centre-based company will continue to expand its venture building activities, with an ambition to co-found over 40 tech-first companies in the next five years, plus further expand its ‘venture-building-as-a-service’ provision “with a growing number of prominent corporate partners”.
Among the investors is Bin-Shihon Group, the largest tyre dealer in Saudi Arabia. Ribal Alkhatib, deputy operations general manager at Bin-Shihon Group, becomes investor director at CFT.
Mr Alkhatib, who got to know Xavier on a Masters in Entrepreneurship course at Cambridge Judge Business School, said: “It’s a privilege to be a part of such innovations and technologies, and we are optimistic for what the future of CFT and deeptech will hold.”
Cambridge Future Tech CEO Owen Thompson said: “Our tech-first venture builder model addresses the critical challenges often faced by technology founders.
“During the nascent stages of a venture, academic founders grapple with the dual tasks of advancing their technology while simultaneously fostering a commercially viable business. By co-founding deeptech companies, our team assumes an operational role within those ventures, bolstered by our extensive network of advisors.
“This additional funding allows us to expand our integrated venture building activities, while also building out new corporate partnerships, bringing the DeepTech community together around the unified goal of commercialising nascent technologies for global impact.”
Owen said of the investors’ profiles: “We have quite a large variety of high net worth individuals, family offices, and venture capitalists, based all the way from the US West Coast, through to the UK, Europe, and the UAE.”
